Stories of LeBron for the day after Thanksgiving

The LeBron James story has been the biggest to come to the NBA in many years, perhaps forever.

The departure of the superstar forward from Cleveland, near his hometown of Akron, to the Miami Heat has resonated on many levels.

But this morning, a couple of stories about LeBron mania really resonated.

James makes his first visit back to Cleveland next week when the Heat travel to Cleveland. The Cavaliers already are girding for more security for that game than any in the team’s history.

Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports that to ensure James’ safety, there will be dozens of extra police officers on hand, both uniformed and undercover. Officers will be stationed inside and outside the arena, and many will be positioned by the Heat bench and at the tunnel where the Heat players will enter the court.

“Honestly, I’m a little bit afraid,” one member of the Cavs organization told ESPN.com. “Some people don’t care. Their mentality is ‘‘I’ve got to get this off my chest.’ There’s so much negative energy around this game. People aren’t excited about the game itself. They’re just like, ‘‘I can’t wait to do something.’”

Additionally, fans will not be permitted to wear crude or offensive shirts that disrespect James or his family members. Fans who wear those shirts will be require to remove them and then will be provided a Cavaliers-branded T-shirt to wear instead. All inappropriate signs also will be confiscated and officials will be on the lookout throughout the game for inebriated fans or fans who are preparing to throw things onto the court.

Fun times, indeed.

Another story about James-mania can be found by examining the story of Brian Windhorst, the ESPN.com reporter who has covered James and his exploits since middle school.

Windhorst then was a cub reporter on the staff of the Akron Beacon-Journal. He followed James throughout his high school career and onto his seven-season career with the Cavs.

It was only natural that ESPN.com would reach out to Windhorst when they started their “Heat Index” to chroncle James’ first season with the Heat.

But Michael Kruse of the St. Petersburg Times captures some of the pitfalls that Windhorst has felt by taking the job and finding that his access to “King James” has diminished over the years.

Once Windhorst was the only reporter that James would trust to talk about the birth of his first child. Windhorst and James grew up in west Akron and graduated from the same high school, where his mother was a health teacher for both of them.

But today, Windhorst is finding his access to James shrinking just like reporters everywhere.

“We’re not in Cleveland anymore,” Windhorst told the Times. “But I wish we were.”